By David Nakamura, The Washington PostManhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks during a news conference following the arraignment of Donald Trump in New York City on April 4, 2023.
While some legal observers consider the charges a reasonable use of New York’s penal code, others view them as a legally shaky effort to tie business fraud to attempts to keep information about Trump’s behavior hidden from voters. According to the New York indictment, Trump sent $420,000 to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen as reimbursement for paying off Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. The money — $130,000 for Daniels and the additional funds to Cohen — was paid in a dozen installments and falsely recorded in the Trump Organization’s internal documents as a legal retainer.
Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor on financial fraud cases, criticized Bragg last year when the charges were unveiled, saying the district attorney had failed to specify the other crimes that had facilitated Trump’s alleged business records fraud. In a recent interview, Mariotti gave Bragg credit for providing more details in court filings since then.
Former Obama White House ethics adviser Norm Eisen, a Trump critic and prominent supporter of the four felony cases against him, said Bragg’s success in keeping the case on track despite Trump’s attempts to have it dismissed demonstrate the legal legitimacy of the charges.
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